PORTUGAL’S association for industrial car producers, Associação de Fabricantes para a Indústria Automóvel (AFIA), warned that, in the next few months, as many as 12,000 jobs could be cut in the country from a total workforce in the automotive sector of 40,000.
After car manufacturer Autoeuropa’s announcement that it would scale down production by the end of the year, the PSA Peugeot-Citroen factory in Mangualde, central Portugal, has also admitted that it could reduce production.
PSA is studying the impact of the French group’s strategy to cut back on production in the fourth quarter and admitted that its factory of 1,400 employees could be affected by falling orders for Peugeots and Citroens.
However, a spokesperson for the company in France said that factories in Spain and France would be particularly affected and Portugal would be less affected since its factory was small in comparison.
The Delphi factory in Seixal, south of Lisbon, is also to cut back on production and lay off up to 200 temporary contract employees. The American multinational produces ignitions, oxygen sensors, valves and other automotive components and employs over 700 people.
“Those on temporary contracts are all being sent home,” said the secretary-general of the industrial metalworkers union (Sindicato das Indústrias Metalúrgicas e Afins), José Simões, estimating that 200 employees do not have full time contracts.
Earlier this year, the Delphi branch at Ponte de Sor, Alentejo, made 500 employees redundant and is expected to close its gates at the end of the year. The director of Delphi refused to give any comments to the press.
Do you have a view on this story? Email: [email protected]
